Episoder

  • Transcript

    It is still designer commentary season on Dice Exploder, and today I'm talking with Jason Morningstar (Fiasco, Night Witches, a million other games) about Northfield: a game we co-designed about when Jesse James tried to rob the bank in my home town, we shot the hell out of him and his gang, and then we started an annual small town fair to celebrate our victory. You play as both a member of the James-Younger gang and as a person in the present day portraying your gang member in a reenactment.

    It's a weird little game, much like its subject matter, and surprisingly personal to me (Jason was not surprised). On this episode, we break down the process of our collaboration and how we feel about the results (very positively).

    More than any other designer commentary I've done, I hope you check out this game. I'm really proud of it. You can get it on the Bully Pulpit Patreon now for $5.

    Further Reading

    Northfield, the game, on the Bully Pulpit Patreon

    Video of the Defeat of Jesse James Days reenactment

    Official Defeat of Jesse James Days website

    Photo of (allegedly) Charlie Pitts’ ear

    Wikipedia articles on Northfield and the James-Younger gang

    Socials

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    Jason on ⁠Bluesky⁠ and ⁠dice.camp⁠.

    ⁠Bully Pulpit Games⁠

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    For Ken Lowery’s Disc 2 jam, I decided to finally release the game I’ve been working on for nearly four years: Space Fam.

    This is a game about, you guessed it, found family in space. In particular, it takes a lot of inspiration from The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet in that you’re the crew of a ship escorting a traveler from point A to point B, and along the way you deal with your feelings of guilt and stress about living under an oppressive government.

    It’s a hack of Our Traveling Home by Ash Kreider, and it’s like 90% of the way to really great. But that last 10% is always the hard 10%, and I decided it was time to let this game just be what it is and push it out into the world.

    As a part of that, I wanted to look back on the design process. What went well, what didn’t, what would I change if I was going to spend another 30 minutes or 30 years on this thing. To do that, I sat down with two of my friends who playtested the game, and we talked about all things Space Fam.

    Further Reading

    Space Fam on itch

    The Disc 2 jam.

    A commentary podcast episode for Space Fam is available here.

    I wrote about the design of Space Fam's "scenes menu" here​.

    I wrote about the design of the Space Fam character sheet here​.

    Our Traveling Home by Ash Kreider

    Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern by Takuma Okada

    Space Post by Jason Morningstar

    The Watch

    Night Witches by Jason Morningstar

    Socials

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

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  • Transcript

    The first ever Dice Exploder game jam came to a close about a month ago, and today I sit down with the three hooligans from the discord who put it together and go through some of our favorite entries. If Dice Exploder is a show about concrete examples, this episode is as Dice Exploder as it gets.

    All the games we talk about are pretty short, so it should be easy to follow along at home. Check out all the jam submissions here.

    Thanks to Audrey Stolze (aka Lady Tabletop), Chris Greenbriar, and Sam Roberts for running the jam!

    Further Reading:

    Game Exploder full list of entries

    Sam D's late entry: World Ending Game (Sam's Version)

    Socials

    Sam D on Bluesky and itch.

    Sam R's game Escape from Dino Island.

    Audrey on ⁠Tumblr⁠, and her podcast ⁠Alone at the Table⁠ about solo games.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    What if your D&D adventuring party settled down and opened a tavern, and the vibes went from dragon murderers to Bob’s Burgers? That's my pitch for Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern, one of my favorite RPGs. It's currently on Backerkit, and you should check it out.

    This week I'm talking about a super simple unnamed mechanic from Stewpot, and presumably other games before it, that's inspired much of my own work: everyone goes around and adds a detail about the scene at hand or whatever we're talking about. Simple but effective.

    I think of this mechanic, and Stewpot generally, as especially welcoming to people new to the hobby. And so I brought on my favorite new to the hobby person: Lee Conrads, acclaimed theater director (there's a lot of theater and audience theory in this one) and also my spouse. It's a very special episode.

    Further Reading:

    The Stewpot backerkit campaign

    Circle X theater company

    Great Reckonings in Little Rooms

    Comedy Book by Jesse David Fox

    Socials

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    Is sharing music with your friends an RPG? It sure is when you're playing Avery Alder's game Ribbon Drive. Takuma Okada, the designer of Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern (⁠on Backerkit right now⁠), joins me this week to talk about music, contemplation, and unconventional ways to inspire players.

    Further Reading:

    ⁠Ribbon Drive⁠

    ⁠Spindlewheel⁠

    Everything Is Illuminated, the book and film

    ⁠Ten Candles⁠

    ⁠Dread⁠

    ⁠Star Crossed⁠

    ⁠Our Radios Are Dying⁠

    ⁠Void 1680 AM⁠

    Sam’s ⁠playlist⁠ from playing Ribbon Drive

    ⁠The Awards⁠ website

    ⁠The Awards interview on Yes Indie'd⁠

    Socials

    Takuma on Twitter and Bluesky.

    Sam on ⁠Bluesky⁠ and ⁠itch⁠.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at ⁠diceexploder.com⁠

    Our logo was designed by ⁠sporgory⁠, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the ⁠Dice Exploder Discord⁠ to talk

  • Transcripts are available at diceexploder.com

    People talk a lot about how and whether RPGs emulate TV and movies, but this week cohost Meguey Baker (Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills) brings in a game that takes that sentiment to a compelling meta level. Fan Mail, from Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson, is the core of the game's key metaphor: that players are simultaneously writers of a TV show, fans watching that show, and the characters portrayed on screen. We talk about the storygame scene in the early 2000s, how Primetime Adventures has influenced Meg's work, and how different this mechanic can feel in a one shot vs a full campaign.

    This game feels like a classic. I wish I'd known about it ten years ago.

    Further Reading:

    Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson

    The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall

    Inspecters by Jared Sorensen

    A Thousand and One Nights by Meguey Baker

    Ritual in Game Design by Meguey Baker

    Meguey & Vincent’s new game Under Hollow Hills

    Socials

    Meg on Twitter and Bluesky.

    The Baker family blog and games.

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    What's the deal with Playbooks? That's a question that's way too big for one episode. But Moe Poplar, of the RPG Academy podcast Show & Tell, had a very particular effect of playbooks that he wanted to talk about on the show today: how playbook choice can be a line of communication between players, GM, and designer.

    This is one of those episodes that's as much play advice as it is about design. I should do more of those.

    Further Reading:

    Monster of the Week

    Blades in the Dark

    Socials

    Moe’s website, including his games.

    Moe’s podcast via The RPG Academy, Show & Tell

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.
    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    This week, now that the part of season 3 that was funded by Kickstarter is over, I’ve got a treat for you: the backers-only bonus episode with Mikey Hamm, designer of Slugblaster. You didn’t think I was gonna just hold on to an episode this good forever, did you? It’s the show’s namesake mechanic!

    Mikey is currently Kickstarting Two-Hand Path, a solo game roll-and-write dungeon crawler. Check it out.

    While I thought this episode would be a big of a goof about a goofy mechanic (and it is), it also brought out some of the most thoughtful thoughts on deploying mechanics with precision and purpose that I’ve had on the show yet. Also, we had a blast.

    A slug blast.

    List of Games with Exploding Dice

    Middle Earth Roleplaying Game

    Shadowrun

    Earthdawn

    Luck of Legends

    The Burning Wheel

    7th Sea

    Heart (Deep Apiarist class)

    Renegade Racers

    Kids on Bikes

    Armello

    Socials

    Back Two-Hand Path and buy Slugblaster now!

    Mikey on Bluesky.

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    This week's cohost is James Wallis, cohost of the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast, a show a lot like this one that's Kickstarting their third season now, and designer of one of the first story games: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

    Today we're breaking format: instead of talking about one game mechanic, James brought in the concept of innovation in game design. What does it look like, is it important, and how can we do more of it?

    The show notes for this one are friggin packed.

    Further Reading:

    Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast and season 3 Kickstarter

    The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen and on Wikipedia

    Nordic Larp book by Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola

    Nordic Larp wiki

    Fairweather Manor, the Downton Abbey larp

    The Diana Jones award

    Dominion, the deckbuilder board game by Donald X. Vaccarino

    Blades in the Dark by John Harper

    My blog post Calvinballing a Whole Campaign

    Star Crossed by Alex Roberts

    Dread by Epidiah Ravachol

    Apocalypse World by Meguey and Vincent Baker

    The Beast by Naked Female Giant

    The Crew by Thomas Sing

    Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings

    Bluebeard’s Bride by Marissa Kelly, Whitney Beltrán, and Sarah Doom

    The Well Played Game by Bernie de Koven

    Socials

    James Wallis on Bluesky and dice.camp.

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • This week I'm bringing you an episode from the new podcast Lyrical Ludology with host Logan Timmins, a show all about lyric games. I'm very excited for it.

    There's already at least one more episode of Lyrical Ludology published, so if you like this one, go subscribe and take a listen!

  • Transcript

    It’s the solo games episode! Hopefully the first of many. I’m joined by Seb Pines, designer of The Awards winning game Dwelling and haver of MFA in basically solo games, to talk about prompts in solo games.

    This is a broad survey of solo games. We talk about a bunch of games (listed below) that all behave differently. If you’re curious about this side of the hobby, this is the primer for you.

    Further Reading:

    Dwelling by Seb Pines

    Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings

    Horse Girl by Babblegum Sam

    Artefact by Jack Harrison

    Project ECCO by Elliot Davis

    Notorious by Jason Price

    Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery

    I Eat Mantras For Breakfast by Maria Mison

    The Ink That Bleeds and an excerpt on the Indie Game Reading Club

    My response to The Ink That Bleeds

    Socials

    Seb Pines on Bluesky and itch.

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    This is an intensely visual episode. If you'd like to follow along with the sheets we mention and get some extra commentary from me, you can do so at https://www.diceexploder.com/blog/2024/2/22/dice-exploder-aftershow-character-sheets

    I’m fascinated by character sheets, mostly because there are so so so precious few that I think do a good job. I don’t mean this to call anyone out - I think the job of making a good character sheet might genuinely be impossible. They just have so much they have to accomplish.

    Today I'm talking to Emanoel Melo, designer of CBR+PNK, about what we like in character sheets and whether there are any we would actually go to bat for.

    Further reading

    Aftershow blog post featuring all the character sheets we talk about plus extra commentary on diceexploder.com

    CBR-PNK

    Mothership

    Bruno Prosaiko, the artist behind the beautiful ornate sheets we talk about, on Instagram

    A collection of Brazilian tabletop games on itch that Emanoel curates

    Socials

    Emanoel on Twitter and Instagram. His website, Cabinet of Curiosities.

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    Alex Roberts, designer of Star Crossed and For the Queen, joins me to talk about pity points from Kagematsu, a mechanic that doesn't actually do anything itself beyond evoke a particular feeling when put in opposition to love points.

    This episode is what I always dreamed Dice Exploder could be. We start from a simple game mechanic, but we get into power dynamics at the table in the past and the future, how people treat you when you’re disabled, cultural appropriation, my personal techniques for flirting, details of a new game Alex is working on, and of course “what is the true nature of love?”

    Happy day after Valentine’s Day.

    Further Reading

    Kagematsu is no longer available in print or online

    Kagematsu actual play, featuring Alex, on the One Shot podcast

    What Dice Do blogpost by Graham Walmsley

    The Quiet Year by Avery Alder

    Alex’s finished podcast Backstory

    Star Crossed by Alex Roberts

    For the Queen, second edition coming May 14th from Darrington Press

    Socials

    Alex’s personal carrd page

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    This week I've got designer and illustrator Strega Wolf van den Berg on to talk about money and the Mork Borg third party license. What, if anything, is the difference between making RPGs for fun, to pay rent, and to be paid fairly? And what is the cost (aha) of bringing money into making art?

    On the flip side, this is also an episode about community, and how the shape of Mork Borg’s license fostered a community around it that allowed Strega Wolf to find a space in this hobby. Community can give us so many things that money can’t.

    Further reading:

    The Mork Borg third party license

    Lichoma

    The Origin Of My Depression by Uboa

    Socials

    Strega Wolf's website and itch page

    Bogfolk, and on itch

    Sam on ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠itch⁠⁠.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at ⁠⁠diceexploder.com⁠⁠

    Our logo was designed by ⁠⁠sporgory⁠⁠, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.

    Join the ⁠⁠Dice Exploder Discord⁠⁠ to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    This week I've got Nova, aka Idle Cartulary, of the excellent Playful Void blog among other places linked below. Nova's one of my favorite writers in the, as she puts it, DIY elf game scene, and I knew that was a world I wanted to cover more this season.

    Nova brought on the rumor table from Zedeck Siew's Lorn Song of the Bachelor, an excellent elf game adventure. We got to talk about what makes a good random table at large, our taste in how adventures are written, and how point of view is the thing that often turns serviceable fiction into real primo shit.

    Further Reading:

    Nova’s kickstarter for The Curse of Mizzling Grove

    Dice Exploder on pick lists

    Lorn Song of the Bachelor

    The Isle, in print and on itch

    Socials

    Nova’s blog, ⁠Playful Void⁠

    Nova’s podcast, ⁠Dungeon Regular⁠

    Nova’s games ⁠on itch⁠

    Sam on ⁠Bluesky⁠ and ⁠itch⁠.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at ⁠diceexploder.com⁠

    Our logo was designed by ⁠sporgory⁠, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.

    Join the ⁠Dice Exploder Discord⁠ to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    On the season 3 premiere, I’m joined by John Harper, designer of many games featured on past episodes of Dice Exploder including Blades in the Dark, Lasers & Feelings, and Agon 2e.

    John brought in the Psi*Run risk sheet, a fairly complex dice resolution mechanic, known generically as Otherkind Dice. The risk sheet is such an elegant piece of design, packing essentially a whole game onto a single sheet of paper, and being so clear in both how it works and how you might tear it apart for your own ends. If you’re a new designer, or even just looking to get back in touch with the basics, John and I agree that hacking this thing is a great place to look.

    It’s good to be back.

    Further Reading:

    Psi*Run’s risk sheet

    Vincent Baker’s original 2005 post on Otherkind Dice

    Vincent’s 2022 Otherkind Dice SRD

    Psi*Run by Michael Lingner, Christopher Moore⁠, and Meguey Baker

    Annalise

    Socials

    John’s website, onesevendesign.com, and itch page.

    Sam on Bluesky and itch.

    The Dice Exploder blog is at diceexploder.com

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey, and our ad music is Lily Pads by my boi Travis Tessmer.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Thursday January 25th Dice Exploder is back with an all new crowdfunded-by-listeners season! The lineup includes John Harper, Alex Roberts, James Wallis, Idle Cartulary, Strega Wolf van den Berg, Emanoel Melo, Seb Pines and MORE - that's right, I'm over-delivering on the Kickstarter as a treat. Check back next week for the season premiere, and visit the blog's new home at diceexploder.com.

    Transcript

  • Transcript

    Hello and welcome to the Dice Exploder 2023 end of year bonanza! I love me a good ranked list of movies on an end of year movie podcast, but ranked lists are bad and this show’s about RPGs not movies, so you get this instead. It’s me, Aaron King of the RTFM podcast, Lady Tabletop of the Alone at the Table podcast, and Sharang Biswas of winning tons of Ennies this year and being a games academic, and the four of us (plus a half dozen other special guests) are here to tell you about a bunch of cool games shit we played, read, and listened to this year.

    Hope you had a great year in games! Come on down and listen to ours.

    Our picks:

    Aaron’s games

    * GREED by Gormengeist

    * Undertree Temple of the Elf Gods by Happy Chthonian

    * Crush Depth Apparition by Amanda Lee Franck

    Audrey’s games

    * Void 1680 AM by Ken Lowery

    * Wreck This Deck by Black Armada Games (Josh Fox and Becky Annison)

    * Extreme Meatpunks Forever by Sinister Beard Games

    Sharang’s games

    * Fight With Spirit by Story Brewers Roleplaying

    * The Silt Verses by Gabriel Robinson and Jason Cordova

    * The Broadcast by Jason Morningstar and Lizzie Stark

    Sam’s games

    * Eating Oranges in the Shower by Hazel Anneke Dixon

    * Barkeep on the Borderlands by W. F. Smith

    * Exiles by em acosta

    Game adjacent things

    * Aaron: Grog the Frog by Alba BG

    * Audrey: Roleplaying Games Enter the World of Ballet in a Unique New Performance by Linda Codega

    * Sharang: The Dungeons & Dragons players of Death Row by Keri Blakinger

    * Sam: The Ink That Bleeds by Paul Czege (here’s an excerpt from the Indie Game Reading Club)

    Thing we’re proud of

    * Aaron: RTFM, Speedrune, and Aaron’s annual list of favorite books

    * Audrey: Behold: A Game

    * Sharang: Winning 3 Ennies: Judges choice for MOONLIGHT ON ROSEVILLE BEACH and Best Rules/Best Family Game for AVATAR

    * Sam: you’re lookin at it

    Picks from friends of the show:

    * Ray Chou: Decuma

    * Thomas Manuel: A.A. Voigt on Youtube, Daydreaming About Dragons podcast by Judd Karlman, the Indie Game Reading Club, and Aaron Marks at Cannibal Halfling.

    * Mikey Hamm: Picturepedia and other coffee table reference books

    * John Harper: Girl By Moonlight

    * Em Acosta: The Zone and Blades in ‘68

    * Nova / Idle Cartulary: mindfulness fantasy map drawing (see her Dungeons Regularly vols. 1 and 2)

    * Moe Poplar: the Dice Exploder podcast

    Further reading:

    * Meakpunk manifesto by Heather “Flowers” Robertson

    * Sharang’s piece about Brindlewood Bay

    * Amanda Lee Franck’s Comradery

    * Alba BG’s Instagram

    * BALLETCOLLECTIVE presents THE MOMENT IS IMMINENT

    * RTFM patreon episode on VOID 1680 AM

    * LadyTabletop’s VOID 1680 AM broadcast

    Socials

    Aaron can be found on, like, just listen to RTFM, linked above.

    Audrey on Tumblr, and her podcast Alone at the Table about solo games.

    Sharang is on itch and Twitter and Bluesky.

    Sam is @sdunnewold on all socials and itch.

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    Today I’ve got for you another between-season bonus episode. This time we’re breaking format to talk about i know the end, a module I published earlier this year about going back home after a long time away and all the horrors that entails. Because if you can’t occasionally publish something self-indulgent in your podcast feed, what’s even the point of having one?

    My cohost for this is my friend Nico MacDougall, the current organizer of The Awards, who edited i know the end and had almost as much to say about it as I did.

    For maximum understanding of this episode, you can pick up a free copy of the module here and follow along (or skim it in advance).

    Further reading:

    The original i know the end cover art

    The “oops all PBTA moves” version of i know the end

    Three of my short films

    My previous written designer commentaries on Space Train Space Heist and Couriers

    John Harper talking with Andrew Gillis about the origins of Blades in the Dark

    The official designer commentary podcasts for Spire and Heart

    Aaron Lim’s An Altogether Different River, which comes with a designer commentary version

    Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, a photography theory book that we talked about during recording but which I later cut because I remembered most of the details about it incorrectly

    What Is Risograph Printing, another topic cut from the final recording because I got basically everything about it wrong while recording (the background texture of the module is a risograph printed texture)

    Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater

    Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques

    Socials:

    Nico’s carrd page, which includes links to their socials, editing rates, and The Awards.

    Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.

    The Dice Exploder logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!

  • Transcript

    It’s a bonus between-seasons Dice Exploder! Wowie!

    As promised back in my episode with Gem Room Games about Mork Borg, today I’m talking about accessibility in game design using Mork Borg’s graphic design as an example. My cohost is Marc Muszynski, a friend and screenwriter with low vision, and we talk in detail about his experience with Mork Borg. Is this game, with all its important and loud art, accessible to people who can’t see? Like with most accessibility questions, It’s Complicatedℱ!

    Further reading:

    Mork Borg

    Accessibility in Gaming Resource Guide by Jennifer Kretchmer

    TTRPG Accessibility Drive 2023 game jam on itch

    Contrast checking tool for visual design.

    Color checking tool for colorblindness.

    Sylexiad, my favorite Dyslexia-friendly font:

    Fate Accessibility Toolkit by Evil Hat

    Two articles about “sanity” mechanics in RPGs (don’t put “sanity” mechanics in your games)

    Socials:

    Marc on imdb (lmao)

    Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.

    Our logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.

    Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!